Mapping Where GOP Candidates Raise Their Campaign Donations

Federal Election Commission records show Republican presidential candidates have raised about $90 million through the third quarter of this year — but where is the money coming from?

These maps visualize the geographic source of candidates’ campaign cash by plotting symbols that represent the number of donors in each zip code. With all eight major candidates, the map naturally shows fundraising clusters that reflect urban population centers. But the colors also begin to highlight regional fundraising differences among the candidates.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has raised the most ($30 million) since January, followed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry ($17.2 million) since his late entry into the race this summer. (Click each image to view it larger.)

Romney, a Mormon who managed the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, raised about $2 million from Utah. He also raised $1 million from Michigan, where his father, George, served as governor. But he collected donations from all over:

Perry, who’s obviously had less time in the race, tapped his fundraising base in Texas. More than half his money came from the Lone Star State:

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum draws his money from the Keystone State. A third of his donations came from the Keystone State:

Former Utah Gov. and Ambassador Jon Huntsman also enjoyed a relatively strong base in his home state:

Newt Gingrich, a former congressman from Georgia, received about one in five of his dollars from that state, with the most coming from the Atlanta region. He also raised about $200,000 from neighboring Florida:

Former Godfather’s Pizza executive Herman Cain, who lives in the Atlanta suburbs, also has a Georgia fundraising base:

And, finally, U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, who represents a Minnesota district, saw a cluster of donations from the Twin Cities region:

UPDATE: Added a map for President Obama, who’s raised about $86 million this year. This map uses a different method than above. Instead of created symbols sized by the number of donors in a zip code, it creates a tiny dot for each $2,500 collected in a zip code. (So don’t compare it to the GOP maps, which I plan to update soon):